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Exploring Maya life

Date

06/01/16

It is early May in central Belize, nearing the end of the dry season. While farmers anxiously await the beginning of the rainy season vital for crops, archaeologists hope it starts as late as possible. Tropical storms transform the landscape, making it difficult to get around, even in four-wheel-drive vehicles. Also, excavating in the clayey mud is not fun.

We did not start this season excavating ancient Maya ruins, however. We are first collecting sediment samples. Allow me to explain.

Professor Fennell of the Department of Anthropology presented an invited paper on the New Philadelphia Archaeological Project under the tile “Resilience and Racism in a 19th Century American Heartland: New Philadelphia and the Vagaries of Prejudice.”